November 30, 1907, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
765 
VEGETABLES. 
240 8. Secret of Growing Large Leeks. 
What is the secret of growing Leeks like 
those at the Crystal Palace the other week, 
and is there any special advantage in grow¬ 
ing them so large ? I have never had them 
with white necks longer than 3m. Any in¬ 
formation would be gladly received. (A. O., 
Wilts.) 
Those large Leeks which you saw at the 
Palace took a good deal of attention and also 
plenty of feeding to get to the size they were. 
In the first instance, you will have to sow 
seeds in a greenhouse about the beginning 
of February and keep them growing along 
slowly. They would be the better of a shift 
from the seed box into another as that in¬ 
duces more roots and a greater amount of 
vigour. You can then give them about 2in. 
of space between every two plants. When 
the weather becomes fine some time in April 
you can transplant them into ground that 
has been well prepared by trenching and 
manuring. Of course, to get very long necks 
they require to be grown in trenches like 
Celery. If you get out trenches by the time 
we mention the Leeks should be planted in 
a single or double row along the trench, and 
when they have ma'de some growth you can 
then earth them up, but the plan is*to put 
a collar of brown paper round the neck of 
the leek and a little higher than the base of 
the leaves. This causes the leaves to push 
up higher in order to spread out to the light. 
Lift the paper higher as the Leeks grow. 
This, of course, makes a long neck, as that 
is really made up of the base of the leaves. 
If the weather is in any way dry, good sup¬ 
plies of water should be given them before 
and after they are earthed up. Some liquid 
manure or some of the made up fertilisers 
in water nay be employed for feeding them 
during the season. By September the Leeks 
should be of a considerable height. Your 
skill in following out this will determine the 
size of the Leeks, and even if you do not 
get very large specimens the first time of try¬ 
ing you might improve upon it in the follow¬ 
ing year. 
2409. Crop to Follow Potatos. 
My garden is 40ft. by 25ft., qnd I have 
only grown. Potatos in it for the last eight 
years, and think it would be better for a 
ohange, as the Potatos were much diseased 
last season.. What would you recommend as 
a profitable crop to grow? The soil is of 
good depth and a bit heavy. (A. S. N., 
Sussex.) 
You certainly have grown Potatos in your 
garden as often in succession as they should 
be. We think it would have been much more 
profitable to have grown other kinds of vege¬ 
tables in the garden, so that you could keep 
shifting them from one quarter to the other 
as time went on. What you should do now 
is to trench and manure the garden. Then 
get some good plants of Ellam’s Early Cab¬ 
bage or some other eanly sort. This will 
give you the first supply of vegetables in 
spring. You need not plant the whole gar¬ 
den with this, but sampliy depend upon it for 
an early supply of a good useful vegetable. 
In the beginning of March sow seeds of Cab¬ 
bage, Brussels Sprouts, and Cauliflowers. 
This wil .1 give you some variety. Alii of 
these types may be kept together at one end 
of the ground, so that you can shift them to 
another portion in the following year. In 
spring another portion of ground should be 
sown with Peas, Carrots, Parsnips, Onions 
and Leeks, which are all profitable and use¬ 
ful vegetables. Leeks make an excellent crop 
to stand out the winter and come in useful 
in spring when other vegetables are getting 
scarce. Turning back to the ground which 
we presumed was filled with Ellam’s Early 
Cabbage, this will leave the ground bare in 
the early summer, and after digging it it 
might be sown with Dwarf Beans, or Leeks 
might be transplanted to fill this portion. 
FRUIT. 
2410. Vines Shanking. 
Would a season like this fox want of sun¬ 
shine be a cause of bunches of Vines shank¬ 
ing ? (J. H. R., Scotland.) 
A bad season would, no doubt, encourage 
shanking, especially if the Vines were al¬ 
ready in a had condition at the roots or if 
the Vines had been too heavily cropped for 
them to sustain and ripen the berries. While 
blaming the season to some extent, it would 
be well to examine the border to see whether 
the water can pass away freely or remains 
stagnant. You will also see whether fibrous 
roots are plentiful or otherwise. The in¬ 
spection should at least 9 how you whether 
or not the roots were the cause of the trouble. 
Shanking is really caused by a variety of un¬ 
suitable conditions, such as bad light, too 
much wet, sodden border, or something that 
has given a check to the roots. For some 
reason or other the Vines are really unable 
to supply the necessary moisture to keep the 
berries healthy, and shanking is the result of 
the stalk dying. 
2411. Season of Apples. 
I would be much obliged if you would 
kindly let me know in the next issue of your 
interesting and instructive paper the names 
of the five kinds of Apples which I send with 
this, and the months' in which they should 
be used. Would it do to store them in dark 
cupboards? (A Subscriber, Dublin.) 
The names of the Apples you sent are as 
follows :—.(1) Flilllbasket, a cooking variety 
in season from November till January; (2) 
Dumelow’s Seedling, cooking, November bill 
March; (3) Rosemary Russet, a dessert 
Apple, December to February; (4) Warner’s 
King, cooking, during October and Novem¬ 
ber; and (5) Pearson’s Plate, dessert, from 
November till February. You can store 
them in dark cupboards now, though dark¬ 
ness is not really necessary. Apples lose 
much of their natural colour in the dark, so 
that if you value this a shelf exposed to 
light would be suitable. 
2412. How to Get Large Strawberries. 
I have a large bed of Strawberries which 
bear only small fruits, although I manure 
them well every year. Why is this? What 
would you recommend me to do to get large 
fruits ? I have only had the garden two 
years. (F. Layard, Notts.) 
In the first place the plants may be too 
old and crowded, or the plantation worn out, 
which would mean about the same thing. 
The variety of Strawberry may not produce 
large fruits under any treatment, but'we can¬ 
not tell unless you let us know its name. 
We should advise you to trench and manure 
a fresh piece of ground at once and in spring 
plant out some of the best of the runners in 
lines 2^ft. apart and iSim. from plant to 
plant. You will not be able to iudge of the 
capabilities of the variety the first year, as 
you should really have made the olantation 
in August or the beginning of September, 
and you should remember that next year. 
Besides giving the variety you have a trial 
you should get some Royal Sovereign and 
plant them in.lines 3ft. apart and i8in. or 
2ft. from plant to plant. This will give 
them room to grow strongly, and Royal Sove¬ 
reign requires more room to do well than 
many of the old-fashioned Strawberries. You 
should mulch the ground in autumn., and 
that will feed the roots for the croD in the 
coming year. If you plant them in August 
you will get. the biggest berries from them 
in .the following season and the heaviest crop 
from them the second season. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2413. Eradicating; Slugs. 
My garden was very much infested with 
slugs last June and July. Can I do anything 
now to eradicate them ? One border next the 
lawn was particularly bad where I had 
Stocks and Asters planted. (Thomas Reeves, 
Staffs.) 
A good plan would be to trench the soil 
in that border, turning the top soil down 
into the bottom of the trench. By this means 
you will bury the eggs of slugs and other 
vermin. Then lay pieces of orange peel all 
along the edge close to the grass. If you do 
this some months previous to planting the 
border it should be pretty clear of slugs, but 
while the border is alongside of grass you 
will always be troubled more or less with 
slugs from the grass, but by keeping t’ 
edges of the grass neatly trimmed it will 
check the plague of slugs considerably. You 
might very well try the new remedy known 
as Vaporite, which is considered to be a 
good material for driving away or killing a 
great variety of vermin which infest the soil. 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
2414. Leather Ash as a Manure. 
I read some time ago of leather ash pro¬ 
ducing Shallots at the rate of 326 st. per 
acre. Have any of your readers tried the 
same? I have found this material good for 
striking and am trying some on bulbs. I can 
give a little away to any of your readers to 
try the same by paying carriage. (J. H., 
22, Erskine Street, Hulme, Manchester.) 
If you really mean that the crop was 
326 st. that would not be a very heavy crop 
for the Onions, as it would mean only 2 tons 
3 qrs., whereas an average crop of Onions 
would weigh 10 tons per acre. Your writing 
is somewhat indistinot, however, and we are 
not certain whether you really mean 326 st. 
Leather is prepared as a manure by roasting 
and grinding it, when it is termed leather 
meal. This is distinctly a nitrogenous 
manure. If yours is really leather ash ; t 
would mean that the leather has been burned, 
and in that case it would not be a nitro¬ 
genous manure, but merely contain the 
mineral elements left after burning. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2415. Vaporite. 
Will you please give me some informa¬ 
tion through The Gardening World re¬ 
garding Vaporite? (1) Whether you can use 
it on growing crops or not, (2) is it useful as 
a manure, (3) would it be of any use for 
club on Brussels Sprouts ? I have seen an 
article in The Gardening World about it, 
but cannot find the back number. I remem¬ 
ber it said something about wireworm. That 
is really what I require it for. I cannot get 
gas liime, or I would use that. I may say 
my ground is very gravelly. (A. Scutcher, 
Kent.) 
(1) You can use Vaporite where crops are 
being grown. It is in the condition of a 
powder and should be sown broadcast and 
dug into the ground. This is usually done 
some time before sowing or planting, so that 
it may be in a condition to drive away or 
destroy the insects by the time the ground 
is planted. If you want to spread it on the 
ground now, you must be careful not to dust 
the leaves with it. If spread on the ground 
and dug in it will not do the crops any 
harm. (2) We have never heard of it being 
used as a manure, and should doubt if there 
is any manurial property in it. If there 
were any useful element it may not be in a 
suitable condition for plants to take it up. 
It is only stated to be useful for driving 
awav or killing insects and possibly fungi. 
In the latter case (3) it has been stated bv the 
